Public Health Leadership Forum

The High Achieving Health Department in 2020

Reduce the leading causes of preventable death and disability, with a special emphasis on under-served populations and health —disparitiesthis mission is the perpetual north star for state and local health departments. But, by 2020, how health departments achieve this mission will have significantly changed to meet the demands of our changing world and the populations we serve. This will require improvements to our proven and ongoing current skills as well as several new skills and abilities. State and local health departments will be more likely to design policies than provide direct services; more likely to convene coalitions than work alone; and be more likely to access and have real-time data than await the next annual survey. These new required skills and abilities characterize a new role for health departments as the “chief health strategist” for a community.

The High Achieving Governmental Health Department in 2020 as the Community Chief Health Strategist explores this notion through the lens of the chief health strategist role. Prepared by the Public Health Leadership Forum, the paper and executive summary include significant contributions from John Auerbach, President of Trust for America's Health (and at the time of publication, Director of Northeastern University’s Institute on Urban Health Research), who put substantial time and effort in authoring this work.